Planning a garden

Quick Answer The best climbing plants for UK gardens include Clematis, Honeysuckle, Jasmine, Wisteria and Star Jasmine for scent and flower, Ivy, Climbing Hydrangea and Virginia Creeper for shade and difficult walls, and Climbing Roses and Campsis for sunny, sheltered spots. Match the climber to the aspect and the support it actually needs to climb […]

Quick Answer The Wheel of the Year is an eightfold calendar of seasonal festivals, called sabbats, that marks the turning points of the natural year, the solstices, the equinoxes and the four cross quarter days that fall between them. For a gardener it maps almost exactly onto the growing year you already live by, from […]

Quick Answer To build your own fire pit, dig a circle in the lawn or lift paving, lay a fireproof gravel base over weed membrane, arrange reclaimed stone or bricks around a steel fire bowl, and dress with decorative gravel. The whole project takes a day, costs as little as £30 using salvaged materials, and […]

Quick answer: The best evergreen shrubs for a low maintenance UK garden include Sweet Box, Skimmia and Winter Daphne for small spaces, and Fatsia, Photinia and Pittosporum for bigger structural planting. All hold their leaves and shape year round, need very little pruning, and give a garden winter interest without the upkeep of a mixed […]

Quick Answer If you have inherited a garden or never quite got round to your own, start by assessing aspect, drainage and soil, then audit what is worth keeping before you remove anything. Spend on safety and soil first, learn your garden’s seasonal rhythm, and buy the handful of tools that actually earn their place. […]

Quick Answer No dig gardening means covering weeds or grass with cardboard and a thick compost mulch instead of digging or tilling the soil. You plant straight into the compost, top it up once a year, and let worms and soil life do the cultivating for you. It is quicker to start, kinder to your […]

I’m an award-winning garden designer specialising in the Manchester, Liverpool, Southport and Cheshire areas of the North West of England, specifically small, awkward or unconventional gardens. I love problem gardens and love to use my creative design and problem-solving to make incredible spaces for customers. I have a passion for good design with plants, and alongside […]

You’re staring out at your garden right now, aren’t you? That rectangle of lawn, those overgrown borders, that wonky patio that the previous owners slapped down in 2003. Maybe it’s a brand new build with nothing but builders’ rubble and a token bit of turf. Either way, you’ve got absolutely no idea where to start, […]

Quick answer: Free and paid garden design templates are a genuinely affordable way to get started, from around £30 for a set of professionally drawn options, but they’re generic by nature and won’t account for your garden’s specific soil, aspect or shape. A bespoke garden design starts from £2,500 and is built entirely around your […]

Quick answer: Professional garden design starts from £2,500 for a typical small garden and increases with size and complexity. An online video consultation is £250 per hour, my day rate for planting and styling is £650, and hard landscaping materials typically run £100 to £150 per square metre, with planting-only schemes closer to £30 to […]